Finance statement and funding delays

The Mohawk Council of Kanesatake’s (MCK) audited financial statements for the 2024-2025 fiscal year are almost finished, with the council remaining almost a year behind in filing financial statements, while some departments potentially face issues regarding funding until the report is finalized.

According to MCK caretaker council member Amy Beauvais, the council’s finance department will present the financial report to the caretaker council sometime in June. If it is approved, it will be sent to Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) for review.

Without proper financial reporting, funding for some departments could be affected, which could lead to an impact on services and transparency.

“Then our departments can start having holdbacks,” said Beauvais.

“If they don’t have a large enough pocket to last until the holdback is done, then they have to just stop paying, because they don’t have the money. And with our system now, if they don’t have the budget, or they don’t have the money, there’s no movement,” said Beauvais.

To mitigate this issue, Beauvais said the council sometimes lends a hand to the finance team.

“If the funding is on hold, we just try to get the team to do it faster,” said Beauvais.

“Only aside from us jumping in and helping, there’s not really much we can do except ask them to move quicker.”

Council remained behind in finishing financial audited reports since the start of the COVID-19 shutdowns in 2020.

“We’ve been playing catch up, because first there was a pandemic, and then there was the forensic audit, so between the two of those that ended up prolonging the process a little bit,” said Beauvais.

Part of the reason the audits in past years were late was because of the lack of staff within the finance department, said Beauvais.

“We were very understaffed at one point, so that for sure, it had an impact,” said Beauvais, adding that the council went without a finance manager for some time.

This fiscal year, the finance department has been fully staffed and has done a lot of work to update the council’s financial documentation.

“Because with the lack of staff before all that time, there was no prep, so it was working to catch up,” said Beauvais.

Beauvais hopes the next audit will be finished faster and finally bring the council up to speed. She said a new, recently installed accounting system has helped the financial team work more efficiently.

“Because of the new system that’s been put in place, the future audits are going to be a lot better, a lot quicker,” said Beauvais.

“We’re very stable in the finance department right now, so I’m pretty sure that the next fiscal year is going to be really easy, especially with the system.”

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Hadassah Alencar, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter